PITTSBURGH — The Steel City has become a house of horrors for the Winnipeg Jets.

The losing streak in Pittsburgh for the franchise reached a ridiculous 18 games after the Penguins cruised to a 4-0 victory on Friday night at PPG Paints Arena.

Although you can’t fault the current Jets for the lengthy slide, since many of the players weren’t even in the NHL when the streak began in March of 2007, it’s somewhat remarkable that it’s gone on this long.

Ten of those 18 losses have come since the Jets relocated in 2011, with the Penguins outscoring their opponent 45-22 during that stretch.

And thanks to a championship pedigree and a team that’s back on the rise, the Penguins are on a roll and tied for top spot in the Metropolitan Division with the Washington Capitals.

It was the eighth consecutive victory overall for the Penguins, who improved to 23-12-6, while the Jets have dropped three of the past four games and slipped to 25-13-2 overall.

“Probably wasn’t our best game. Not going to win not scoring any goals. It starts in our own end. I thought we gave up a (few) too many rushes. (We need to) clean it up,” said Jets defenceman Tyler Myers, who then turned his attention to the Penguins. “They play a fast game. I think it starts in their own end, for sure. They break the puck out quick. Short little passes, they support each other well.

“It’s one of the reasons they’ve had success the last five, six, seven years.

“We know we can bring a better effort. We’ll address that and try to come out next game with a better one.”

The historical view of the latest loss in Pittsburgh was not relevant to Jets captain Blake Wheeler.

“They have a good team and they play well at home. It’s similar to what we do at home,” said Wheeler. “It’s not real fun to come into our building right now and play us, either. These guys have been real good for a real long time. You come into a building where a team plays well — they certainly have had a ton of success here. They have a lot of confidence in this building, so you’ve got to play a real good game to give yourself a chance.

“The bounces went their way, but I chalk that up to them maybe just being that half-step quicker everywhere (on the ice).”

Forward Nikolaj Ehlers was lost to an upper-body injury on the first shift of the game, causing the Jets to play most of the contest with 11 forwards.The injury came early in the first period after a collision in the offensive zone with Pens captain Sidney Crosby.

Ehlers seemed to be favouring his left shoulder as he made his way to the bench. After going down the tunnel for further evaluation, Ehlers returned for one quick shift but didn’t last long.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice said an update on the severity of the injury to Ehlers would have to wait until Saturday. “It was just a collision,” said Maurice. “I just saw it as a collision and didn’t investigate much further.”

Ehlers’ exit meant the Jets had to juggle the lines and while several combinations were used, Kyle Connor found himself back on the top unit with Mark Scheifele and Wheeler for the majority of the contest.

“It turns it into a three-line game,” said Wheeler. “It’s tough, we kind of lose an entire line off of that. It ruins your rhythm a bit and ruins some of the matchups that you’re trying to go after,

“(Ehlers) has had a good year for us and scored some big goals. Any time you lose a player like that, it’s tough on your lineup.”

While Connor has now gone 10 games without recording a point, he generated some quality scoring chances (finishing with six shots on goal and eight shot attempts) and seems to be on the verge of breaking out of his drought.

As for the Penguins, they struck for a pair of goals 33 seconds apart in the first period to take a lead they would never relinquish.

Defenceman Olli Maata scored a power-play goal on a slap shot from the point that changed direction off the stick of Wheeler.

Then Zach Aston-Reese caromed a cross-ice pass off the shoulder of linemate Matt Cullen to make it 2-0. Although strong play from goalie Connor Hellebuyck kept the Jets in the contest, the Penguins finally extended the advantage at 14:39 of the second period on a goal that required a video review.

Dominik Simon took a pass from Evgeni Malkin and, after his initial shot went off the post, Hellebuyck snagged the puck out of the air with his glove and appeared to make a highlight-reel save.

However, after the play was reviewed, there was an overhead angle that showed the puck had fully crossed the goal line, so the play was overturned and it was ruled a good goal.

“What third goal? It wasn’t in. There’s no way,” said Hellebuyck. “I need to see the camera angle. I know they wouldn’t call it a goal if it wasn’t. But one camera angle shows it in and one doesn’t.

“I got a couple of looks. That’s what I was saying. On the overhead, my glove didn’t fully cross the line. There’s one (angle) from the crossbar that is kind of angled into the net. That one shows the puck going in, but it’s the wrong angle. From that angle, it’s going to make something on the line look in. That’s all I saw. I don’t know what camera angles they have, but from the top angle, it shows half of my glove in and you can’t even see the puck in it. I don’t see how it was a goal, I really don’t.”

Kris Letang scored an empty-netter with 3:22 to go to round out the scoring.

“I didn’t feel we had a whole lot going. There wasn’t a lot of sustained pressure like we were right there knocking on the door.”

Hellebuyck made 29 saves, while Matt Murray won his seventh consecutive start since returning from a lower-body injury, making 33 saves for his third shutout of the season.

It was the third time this season the Jets have been blanked and they’ve been held to one goal or fewer in five of the past seven games.

The Jets are back in action on Sunday against the Dallas Stars, who have pulled to within four points of Winnipeg after winning four of their past five games (4-0-1).

PRAISE FOR SCHEIFELE

Crosby is a guy who pays attention to players around the NHL, so it was no surprise to hear him heap praise when asked about Scheifele.

“He’s dangerous. He’s a great scorer, but he’s also a great playmaker,” said Crosby. “His game and the way he plays, he’s able to create in a lot of different ways. Whether the game is tight and close-checking, he’s able to get that one chance and bury it or if it’s wide open, he’s going to like that too and he’s going to be able to make plays and create that way too. His ability to create in different scenarios is probably his biggest strength.”

Crosby said attending his first NHL all-star game was special and he expects Scheifele will feel the same way.

“I’d say everyone’s first is pretty unique. Everyone kind of has a different road,” said Crosby. “I remember just kind of being in awe. That was the first time I was around all of those guys, the guys you grew up watching on a couple of different teams there. It was an eye-opening moment for sure.”

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS

Jets forward Brandon Tanev tied his career-high for goals in a season on Dec. 31, already equalling the eight he scored in 2017-18 in Game 39.

“It’s nice to contribute and help offensively, but it’s a testament to the trust the coaches have in me and the guys I’m playing with,” said Tanev. “They make things easy for me. Just getting pucks to the net and trust in the ability when you have the chance to score to capitalize on those.”

Although he’s used on a checking line, Tanev picked a good time to chip in with a bit more offence, as he’ll be an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

“Yeah, I was getting more comfortable with the level of play and who you’re playing against on a consistent basis. Your game gets to where it needs to be and that confidence helps you in those situations and ultimately capitalized on chances.”

GETTING BUSY

Since facing the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 22, the Jets had played only three times in the past 12 days.

But the busy portion of the schedule got under way with Friday’s game as the Jets opened a stretch of five games in eight days, nine in 16 before the bye week and NHL all-star break.

“We’ve just come off one,” said Maurice. “This one is different in that we’ve got physically heavier teams coming in. We get into Anaheim and Dallas and some teams that are very physical. Our travel schedule isn’t as bad this time through. So there are some pros and cons. I don’t think we ever look at a stretch and say we have to handle this differently. You run the bench for the night you’re playing. We play our top end guys lots of minutes. So we won’t change what we do.”

MESSAGE FOR MAX

As someone who knows a bit about dealing with pressure and expectations — and someone who dealt with disappointment at the world junior hockey championship — Crosby was the perfect person to discuss the uproar in Canada after the ridiculous reaction by a few folks on social media.

Some Twitter hate was directed at Team Canada captain Maxime Comtois after the overtime loss to Finland in the quarterfinal.

“I feel bad. That’s immediately what I thought when I saw the penalty shot (that Comtois missed in OT),” said Crosby. “And just the amount of pressure that’s on a young kid. It’s too bad that people have to react that way. And with social media, it kind of gives them that opportunity.

“I guess my advice to him would be to just ignore it. He’s going to have a great career and that’s not going to define who he is, that penalty shot.

“Anything can happen in hockey, you see the stick break, it was just one of those things. It’s easy to be a good fan when you’re winning, but it’s a little tougher when you lose. Everybody should keep that in mind.”

Before being part of arguably the best Canadian entry at the 2005 world junior in Grand Forks, N.D., Crosby was involved in the 2004 gold medal game — when Canada couldn’t hold a lead and lost to the U.S. on a bizarre goal credited to Patrick O’Sullivan.

On the play, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury shot the puck on a clearing attempt off the shoulder of defenceman Braydon Coburn and it ended up in his own net.

“My friend and former teammate, you look at Fleury, what he went through, being on that team in Finland,” said Crosby. “It’s 3-1 and you think it’s going to be the greatest experience of my life. We’re going to win this. All of a sudden it’s 4-3 and there is some crazy bounce. He goes to shoot it, it goes off the defenceman’s back and in the net. All of a sudden, what you dreamed of all this time, it’s not the way the way it plays out. Learning experiences like that are good.”

Maurice also weighed in on the pressure cooker that the world junior has grown into.

“It’s two sides of the same coin. When things go very well, we exult them to a point that’s not realistic either,” said Maurice. “It is clearly unfair in a team sport to look at a player as the cause (of a loss). One-game events like that are prime to have this kind of thing happen. He (Comtois) is going to get past it. If he can use it properly, it will help him prepare for the rest of his career.”

STICK TAP FOR HECKLER

Crosby was also in the news this week for showing his appreciation to a heckler at Madison Square Garden after a game against the Rangers, providing a signed stick to the man who came up with some creative shots while he was in the penalty box.

“He had me laughing a bit. I’ve been in that situation before. Guys can kind of cross a line or take it a little far,” said Crosby. “I thought he did everything in pretty good taste. He had the section laughing. He had me and one of the officials in the box laughing. It was all in good fun and one of those things that doesn’t happen very often.”

Crosby is an incredibly popular player, but he’s no stranger to hearing boos or hearing a chirp or two on the road.

But he shrugged off a question about whether providing the souvenir to the fan might open a can of worms to see who can chirp him the best.

“It’s not a competition,” said Crosby. “I had fun with it, but that’s not always the case.”

For the third time this season and second in 13 games, the Jets were shutout. In five of the past seven games, they’ve scored one goal or fewer. So it’s clear the offence could use a shot in the arm, at least when it comes to consistency. In those two other games, the Jets have a combined nine goals, so it’s not like they’ve lost their touch entirely.

EHLERS GOES DOWN EARLY

Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers suffered what appeared to be a shoulder or hand injury during a collision with Penguins captain Sidney Crosby early in the first period. Ehlers came back for a shift later in the period after being evaluated, but that shift lasted only 32 seconds and he was done for the night. The Jets are already without defenceman Dustin Byfuglien for an extended period of time and this would be a blow to a forward group that is already having some trouble scoring of late.

CONCLUSIVE REPLAY?

Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck appeared to make a highlight-reel save on Dominik Simon with 5:21 left in the second period. Hellebuyck pushed across from post-to-post and got his glove on a puck that hit the post first and seemed destined to go into the net. But after a lengthy video review, it was ruled a good goal. There was definitely an overhead angle that appeared to show the puck crossing the goal line completely, but there was some dispute as to whether that angle might have created an optical illusion.

CONNOR BUZZING

The most dangerous Jets forward on this night was left-winger Kyle Connor. Although his goal-scoring drought reached 10 games, Connor recorded a team-high six shots on goal and had eight shot attempts as he was promoted to the top line with Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele.

MURRAY ON A ROLL

Penguins goalie Matt Murray has been on a heater since returning in late November from a lower-body injury. Murray made 33 saves to record his third shutout of the season while winning his seventh consecutive game overall. During that span, Murray has allowed only nine goals.

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